Monday, November 23, 2009

When entering into an interview - whether you are the hiring manager or potential employee - it helps to know which questions should be asked. As a hiring manager, you want to ensure that you know as much as possible about a potential employee before hiring them. As the potential employee, you want to be prepared to answer everything that's asked of you. Below, find examples of the most common and useful types of questions asked during an interview.

Open Questions - These questions are open-ended. Examples include "Tell us a little bit about yourself" and "What do you know about this job?" By asking these questions, employers can get to know you and learn what you know about the company. So, as a potential employee, make sure you do your research. Say things about yourself that are relevant to the company and make sure you know what they do on the job.

Hypothetical Questions - These types of questions are usually along the lines of "What would you do in a certain situation?" By answering, a potential employee lets the hiring manager know how they handle problems, resolve conflicts, and how they will be able to work on the job. Think through your answers carefully before answering.

Leading Questions - Leading questions are usually aimed at learning the employee's specific skills. A hiring manager may ask something like "Give me some examples of your communication skills." As a potential employee, make sure to give solid examples.

Behavioral Questions - These questions help the hiring manager learn about a potential employee's personality and abilities. The manager may ask about a problem that the employee has solved in the past. The employee should be able to explain the situation, tasks they had to handle, actions they took, and the result.

Closed Questions - These types of questions are used for clarity. They may address a potential employee's previous experience, technical skills, or abilities. Oftentimes, these can be answered with a "yes" or "no."

As a hiring manager, think about what you want to learn from potential employees and use a combination of the above question types when interviewing. As a potential employee, make sure you are prepared to answer every type of question. Take the time to review your skills and learn about the company before going into an interview. Preparation is key to making a good first impression.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Each individual is responsible for building his or her own career. In this ever-changing world, everyone is looking for new ways to earn living. The purpose of career and job planning is to develop strategic plan based on one's talents, aspirations and background, leading to a happy personal and professional life. Career planning involves identifying your choices, and then forming the goals that suit your individual needs, and the realities of job world.

How to Plan Your Career and Job
Planning a career and job is an important step for anyone who is either looking for job, or is already employed. It helps to set clear goals, and map the future career path. This panning helps you determine your weaknesses and strengths, and also helps you learn about your career options in different industries. If you are yet to enter the industry, career and job planning takes the form of interviews with prospective colleges, assessment tests, networking with other students and advisors and then finalizing your plan over a period of time. This will equip you with enough skills, knowledge and tools to enter the work world.

Job and life experiences, educational backgrounds and personal goals can either minimize or maximize the potential target career and jobs. Planning for your career involves doing some deductive reasoning and research about the locality of your job search. The types of jobs that are currently in demand vary greatly depending on the location. Getting the basic knowledge of geographic location and observing the statistics can provide you good information regarding jobs that are most competitive and highest in demand.

If you are already employed, there are certain mistakes you need to avoid so that you can plan your career and job well. Do not look for employment in other field without doing intense introspection, do not enter any field just because someone else is doing well in it, do not look for hot fields unless you feel they are suitable for you, do not go back to school without doing some test-drives in the new field, do not try to make the switch alone, do not make money the only deciding factor, be very careful when seeking services of search firms or placement agencies, do not expect to make the switch overnight and do not expect the career counselor to tell you which field to enter.

The foundation of your job search or career shift is solid, good and honest curriculum vitae. It must describe all your qualifications and entire professional career in detail. An effective resume can help you get your foot in the door and lead to personal interviews.

Knowing your salary range is an important aspect of career and job planning. This helps eliminate the prospective jobs falling outside your salary range. To know your realistic salary range, you need to do some research. The first important step is to know your fixed and variable expenses so that you know how much you need to maintain your current standard of living. While determining your salary range, keep in mind that what you might think you are really worth does not matter as much as what the employer thinks the job is worth.

Another important aspect of career and job planning is to get focused. You need to make real choices based on your career aspirations, skills and background.

Once you have successfully formulated you career and job plan, you need to find the employment through your contacts, friends, recent alumni, networking, professors and so on. If you are a fresher, it is advisable that you have a mentor who can also act as a resource in your job hunt. If you are planning a career move, yellow pages, classifieds, career fairs and employment agencies can be quite helpful.